There has, in recent years, been an explosion in the desire for computer organizers, and more particularly, in the desire for handheld computer organizers which offer features similar both to desktop computers and to paper and pen. These organizers typically include a keyboard and a display screen, the display screen being configured to accept input from a pen-like stylus which allows the user to draw images on the display screen. Such organizers often are embodied in clamshell-like devices, meaning that the device includes a base panel and a cover panel which pivots relative to the base panel to open or close the device. The base panel typically defines the keyboard. The cover panel typically defines the display screen. A single organizer thus may be operated either as a desktop computer (employing both the keyboard and display screen), or as a note pad (employing only the display screen) on which images may be drawn using the stylus.
Handheld computer organizers thus optimally are configured for use either in a "landscape orientation" where the display screen and keyboard both are accessible to the user, or in a "portrait orientation" where the cover panel is folded back against the base panel to expose the display screen alone. Similarly, base and cover panels are oppositely foldable to provide a clamshell-like device which may be fully opened or fully closed. This requires pivot of the cover panel relative to the base panel through 360-degrees of motion, a task which often is made difficult by the thickness of the base and cover panels. Until now, such pivot has been accomplished using complicated linkage arrangements which require multiple user manipulations. These arrangements typically have involved the use of hinges, such hinges often being housed in slots which require adjustment of the hinge position in order to achieve the full range of motion of the cover panel. Other devices have employed linkage arrangements wherein the cover panel is linked to the base panel by a multi-axis hinge array. Such arrangements, however, also have again required unduly complex hinge manipulations, and have made opening and dosing of the device awkward due to independent operation of the hinges.
What is needed is a linkage arrangement which allows for controlled opening and closing of a clamshell-like device without requiring complex user manipulations. It thus would be desirable to provide a hinge arrangement having first and second hinges wherein a controlled handoff of pivot operation from one hinge to another is achieved. More particularly, it would be desirable to provide a multi-axis hinge arrangement having first and second spaced hinges wherein pivot of at least one of such hinges is automatically restricted at any given time.